6621: Apprehensive but Eager

Not too put too much pressure on anything, but I have pretty high expectations for this class. I’ve been hearing things about Professor Kane’s Social Media and Digital Business (in it’s various forms and names) for the past few semesters and have always been intrigued about taking it. I even found it on a list of 10 of the Coolest Classes at Boston College as well as The 10 BC Electives Better than Late Night that I stumbled upon last year (the latter of which really got its point across – comparing things to late night proved more effective than I otherwise might have expected). As a marketing concentration and computer science minor, the marketing/information systems cross-listing was very attractive to me, not to mention the fact that pretty much everyone I knew who’d taken the class wouldn’t stop raving about it. However after receiving a less-than-ideal pick time, the class was closed before I had the opportunity to grab a space. Luckily, some good friends clued me in that if I reached out to Professor Kane and attend the first class that I would have a good chance of being given a spot, and not to get too overwhelmed right away because he tries to scare you intentionally. So here I am, eventually enrolled and ready to go.

Me when I #finally sorted out my class schedule (I even momentarily went bald and grew a mustache).

While the class is really just getting started, I get what my friends were saying about being scared the first day. The amount of activity and involvement expected is a little daunting to me. I am not really a blogger type, but here we are. I’ve always avoided twitter because honestly I think it’s kind of stupid unless you’re a celebrity, news source, or inexplicably funny and popular person. That said, I tweeted out an article to the class last night. Don’t get me wrong, as a 21 year old in the age of the Internet, I’m no stranger to social media, but the way in which we’re expected to use it for this class is absolutely outside of my wheelhouse.

I need to do how many things each week??

To make matters worse, I am definitely that person who procrastinates and tries to make up for it all at once. After feeling particularly called out during class for my poor study habits, combined with the large amount of weekly deliverables of sorts, I knew I was going to have to get real about doing my work consistently throughout the weeks. However, I’ve had all week to write this blog post and yet I’m writing it the morning that it’s due, and I’m honestly giving myself some props because I have 12 hours to go before I’m technically late. Off to a great start with that whole planning thing! (Update: I may have started it early in the day but I’m only finishing it 6 hours before it was due. Still sort of proud.)

Apprehensions and nervousness aside, I’m not in this class to fulfill a requirement. It counts for me, but I’m in an additional marketing class that would finish my concentration and frankly seems significantly easier. I’m in this class because I think the subject matter is fascinating and I want to be in a setting that opens up the discussion between like-minded individuals to myself as well as those coming from extremely different backgrounds. Even though it’s a 6000 level, I was surprised by how many graduate students are enrolled in this course, though I think it’s valuable to have a diversified roster and look forward to comparing the differing opinions between all of us.

Technology is changing more rapidly than I, as a reasonably tech-savvy person, can realistically keep up with. This goes hand-in-hand with the ways in which we use technology, interact with each other, and conduct business. Part of the reason that I think this class is so important, is that most of the professors and textbooks I’ve been exposed to over the last four years were educated/written well before technology became as prevalent as it is today. Computers in Management was a good step towards integrating computers into our business education, but only gives so much information as to how we can utilize technology in such a way that we can promote ourselves, never mind how other people are doing it so successfully around us. By not enforcing the study of specifically technological strategies and concepts integrated with our management training, we may be setting ourselves up at a deficit relative to others.

Me pretending I know how to tech… don’t tell my compsci professor.

I think that is what really got me excited to take this class – the hope that I will learn what others are doing with technology to further business, the effect of it around them, and how I can use it myself to my best advantage. The way I see it, technology is only going to take over more and more; the best thing for us to do is to jump on board and enjoy the ride! #IS6621

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2 comments

Hey, thanks for pointing out the lists. I didn’t know those exist. Students who are taking this class for your own edification and not as a requirement are those that invariably get the most out of it. My goal is not a good course, but to change the way you think and learn for a digital age. We’ll see if I can do that by the last class!

Hi phanauer1! Great post! I share your hesitations on Twitter… I’m a pretty quiet person by nature so it will definitely be a challenge for me to get a good tweeting/retweeting/commenting groove. But I have confidence in us! I also like your point on the diversified roster. I’m too am excited to learn from the experiences of the grad students. Glad you were able to make it into the class!